sí, señor!

It took a few tries, but alas we got through to Derek on Mother’s Day, it was so good to hear his voice!!! All four of us had phones attached to our ears and filled him full of questions. You could tell he was sometimes struggling to think of words in English and would answer “sí” instead of yes to some of our questions. I asked about the family that’s getting baptized this week and he rattled off their names in Spanish and I understood none of it but “husband and wife” (he got to baptize the wife on Saturday). The weirdest thing he’s eaten is horse and get this... dog (holy moly) – he says he usually doesn’t know what he’s eaten until after it’s swallowed. He told Blythe after one meal his stomach hurt and his companion laughed and told him “that’s because you ate pickled pig skin” – to which Derek replied “jerk!” Ha ha! (This is Derek’s sense of humor, he really loves his companion). Their apartment is really really small, and says he gets electrocuted every morning when he turns on the water heater to the shower which barely even gets warm. He’s taken pictures of the spiders and iguana outside the apartment (which he's sending). He’s in an upper level apartment so there aren’t too many critters up there and no cockroaches (or so he thinks). P-days are on Mondays in most parts of Mexico for a reason… seems people party so heartily that Monday is a day of recovery. It’s not uncommon to see men laying in the streets passed out! Ha ha ha. When asked about what he misses most about home he replied… the everyday luxuries and he would love to sink his teeth into a big juicy steak. He also misses COLD drinks such as milk and drinks with ice. He eats lots and lots of soups which he thinks is really weird because the weather is so HOT there. He misses us but hasn’t ever gotten “down in the dumps” homesick – too busy for that business. Of course dad, Derek and Steven talked weaponry, gun trade stuff and drug cartels. His sense of humor has stayed intact and he’s doing great. I can’t believe it’s already been 4-1/2 months (but who’s counting!). He sends congrats out to Jared who is getting ready to turn his papers in and is excited to hear where he will be going – so don’t forget to call us Jared! (Derek and Jared have been good friends and partners in crime since waaaay waaaay back -- 2nd grade maybe?). Jared will be an awesome missionary!
----------
In other news… about a week ago my dad snuck past mom while she was busy and went out and climbed up a ladder in the backyard of their house to make some repairs on their patio roof which has been leaking. Now if you’ve seen my dad lately, he’s getting pretty wobbly, not sure why he thought this was a good idea… but wobbling up the ladder with a drill in hand he did – and when he reached the top he lost his footing and came crashing down – wedging him into a tight little spot between the fence and the shed. He told me on the phone “I needed a front end loader, a back hoe and a tombstone at that point!” Mom couldn’t hear his cries for help and he somehow managed to wiggle his way out an hour later. This little event landed him in the hospital a few days later with internal bleeding – from the fall or Mom yelling at him for doing such a silly thing we’re not quite sure which yet! Ha ha ha! As she put it… they even warn him to be careful SHAVING and here he is climbing up a ladder with a drill! He’s getting released from the hospital today in St. George. We wish them BOTH luck! I’m pretty sure my dad has well over nine lives… more like a thousand and nine?
-----
Right under Elder Reid's addresses to the right, I've posted some fun stories from the MM's (missionary mom's) Mexico web-club I joined. There's even a couple stories from dads -- read through them if you have time, they are quite entertaining! :-)